Online Investment Scams Got You Worried? Follow these Simple Steps to Avoid Them

Money is never easy to earn. All the more, money might be difficult to retrieve once spent in the wrong ways. This is why it has become quite the imperative option for individuals to go for investments worthy of their return. But recently, not all monetary investments have proven to be worth the financing and effort. Sketchy advertisements, slow customer service, and dubious mechanics have served as red flags that helped other customers identify monetary investment scams. These guides may come in handy in case you find the interest and insight on the advantage of investments, especially done through online transactions.

Verify credentials

Bernard Ebbers was one of the greatest investment scammers with fake investments worth $11 billion

It never hurts to go the extra mile and find out for ourselves whether the organization/company advertising lucrative offers are legitimate or not. It’s easy to fall for fancy titles and other endorsements of achievements and success. This is a technique adopted by scammers to lure customers who they think aren’t keen on details. Professionals in investment need to be registered with Securities and Exchange Commission and national and/or state securities or insurance regulators. There are several ways you can verify if the agency’s credentials are legitimate. Most of these agencies have a website that offers a list of verified and registered agencies, together with their necessary information.

Don’t fall for persuasion tactics

Such marketing tactics as “everybody is doing it” or “hurry while offer lasts for a short period” should not be given too much attention. Usually, sales people use such mental trickery when their products and services are not legitimate. Persuasion tactics are not evil all the time as they help sales people of legitimate business and investment agencies convince consumers to buy their products or services. However, persuasion tactics that target conformity, praise of the potential customer’s character, and appearance of product’s scarcity are tools used as well by frauds in the online investment market. Be aware of their persuasion tactics and if they seem too sketchy for you, go back to step 1 and verify their credentials.

Watch out for cold calling

Don’t be fooled, even if DiCaprio calls!

Scammers usually approach potential customers first rather than wait. In the online community, these people usually send you an email and call directly and in a constant manner. They also often persuade you into buying their service right then and there. Legitimate dealers should allow us enough time to ask them further questions and read up on material provided by them. Most specially, ask the sales person on how they were able to contact in case you have no memory of signing up for discussion of the agency’s offered products or services. This way we will know how their system works from the inside and get to see for yourself if their agency or products offered are legal.

Inquire on the return of investment

Pyramiding is a type of investment scam

It just makes perfect sense for anyone who is offered an investment service/product to entirely know the return of investment and its end to end process. Most scammers provide vague details on the process to not blow their cover and not get caught on their fraudulent transactions. On the other hand, legitimate and trustworthy agencies offer their customers a session where clients can freely ask the sales person about the service’s process and what they could earn. More specifically, fraudulent investments provide offers that seem impossible like huge returns in a quick span of time. Ask the sales person more questions that provide transparency in how your money is going to be used.

Check the background of the sales person

This may sound a bit extra but this works fine as well. It isn’t far from reality for someone we know to offer us investment services. The sales person from an agency who’s trying to persuade us into buying their service may be our distant relative or our neighbor. However, it pays to get to know the sales person’s connection and links to the company before you entrust them with your money. See if the distant cousin is actually an accredited and qualified sales person for such service or if the friend who shared an agency’s post of investment offer is someone who has a history of falling to malicious financial ventures.
Anyone can be anything online. And it can be easier to sound and look professional online when customers and service providers aren’t required to have face-to-face interaction. This is especially for scam investment agencies who utilize the internet as a platform for their fraudulent activities. Thus, it is better to prevent oneself from falling into the traps of these malicious people by guarding oneself with the information on these scam strategies and being aware of one’s surrounding. Guard your finances well!